Foreign workers protest at Taipei Railway Station on Sept. 16 against the alleged racist closing of the station’s lobby to organized gatherings.台鐵台北車站管制集會後，外勞九月十六日在車站抗議其為種族歧視。

Photos: Wang Min-wei, Liberty Times照片：自由時報記者王敏為

With 35,000 foreign workers in Greater Tainan, incidences of wage disputes among foreign workers are often reported. In some instances, Indonesians are being sent to raise pigs. Tainan’s Labor Affairs Department (LAD) is calling on employers to be respectful toward different cultures. Foreign workers’ rights are protected by the law and violators can be subject to prosecution and fines.

The LAD says that according to foreign labor statistics from the Council of Labor Affairs in August this year, among Tainan’s 35,000 foreign workers, 13,600 are from Indonesia, 9,200 from Vietnam, 7,475 from the Philippines and 5,719 from Thailand.

The LAD’s Center for Foreign Labor Consultation Services recently received information from employers of foreign workers that showed how psychological problems have been appearing among foreign workers, such as being in a trance, and suspicions of being followed or murdered. With at least 10 such cases recently, workers and employers have mutually agreed to terminate their contracts.

The LAD says that many social problems and negative influences have arisen since Taiwan opened its doors to foreign labor two decades ago, some of which it says consists of conflicts due to cultural differences. For example, most Indonesian workers are Islamic, so they do not consume alcohol or eat pork. Muslims believe that dogs and pigs are unclean animals, yet some Taiwanese employers tell their foreign workers to eat pork or serve food to them with pork in it, some even going so far as to have them help raise pigs, sell pork or raise dogs. Such behavior is disrespectful toward the religious beliefs of foreign workers and violates the Employment Services Act, which is subject to fines between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000.

TODAY’S WORDS
今日單字

1. mutually adv.

互相；彼此 (hu4 xiang1; bi2 ci3)

例: The two things are mutually exclusive. You’re comparing apples with oranges.